Visor attachment for industrial eye shields



Sept. 2, 1930.

F. M. BOWERS VISOR ATTACHMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL EYE SHIELDS Filed May 5 1929 Patented Sept. 2, 1930 ETE stares FREDERICK M. BOWERS, OF CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA VISOR ATTACHMENT FOE INDUSTRIAL EYE SHIELDS Application filed May 3,

This invention relates to improvements in welders shields or protectors.

ft is customary at the present time, for torch welders, to employ shields or helmets for protecting the face. Where several welders are working in one room, light rays from the torches may enter the sides of the present hand shields or helmets from the rear, and cause serious damage to the eyesight of the operators wearing such protectors. t is the primary object of the preseent invention to provide such shields or helmets with a special visor intended to arrest these rays of light, even though they enter the hand shield proper or helmet.

Another object is to furnish a visor for such use, which may be readily adjusted to fit the temples of various operators.

A. still further object is to provide a visor of this character, which may be easily attached to or detached from either a hand shield or a helmet. in this way, the visor may be furnished as a separate unit where desired, and may be interchangeably used with either a helmet or a hand shield.

With the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a hand shield provided with abutinents or stops to cooperate with the improved visor.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and showing the improved visor attached to the hand shield.

Fig. 3 is an interior elevation of the hand shield with the visor attached, and with certain parts broken away to facilitate illustration.

1928. Serial N0. 360,146.

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the visor unit.

While the invention is illustrated in connection with a hand shield, it will be understood that it may be used in the same way with welders helmets.

In the drawing, 5 indicates the face piece of a welders hand shield, having a handle 6, a crown portion 7, and a shelf 8. These parts are preferably formed of relatively stiff fibre, and are attached together by rivets 9 or the like. A forwardly projecting frame 10 is secured to the front of the face piece, and is provided with the usual eye glass 11, which is positioned in front of the window opening 12. Of course, the glass is of suitable material to protect the welders eyes.

The parts 5 to 12 inclusive may be of conventional construction, and I have improved the same by applying my visor which is indicated in its entirety by the numeral 13.

As best shown in Fig. 4, this visor is preferably formed of a rectangular sheet or strip 14 of the same kind of fibre from which the shield is made, and this sheet is bent into U-shape and is provided on one side thereof with upper and lower pliable metal strips 15 which are also of U-shape. The end portions of the sheet 14c are folded back to enclose the end portions of the metal strips 15, and then resilient metal strips 16 are secured in place by rivets or the like 17, which join the resilient strips to the sheet and pliable strips 15. Each rivet preferably passes only through the extremities of the sheet 14, so as to leave the surface of the Visor which is to be engaged by the operators face, unobstructed, in order not to irritate the users skin. It will be noted that the ends of the strips 16 project beyond the wings 18 of the visor to provide resilient fingers 19, for a purpose hereinafter described. It will also be observed that the central portion of the sheet 14: is provided with a Wmdow slot 20 which registers with the window of the shield.

In order that such a visor unit may be used interchangeably with either a hand shield or a helmet, such protector has a pair of vertically disposed internal steps or abutments 21 which may also be formed of fibre, and secured to the face piece by rivets 22 or the like. Each of these stops is notched on its inner side at the ends, as shown at 23, and these notches allow the resilient fingers 19 of the visor unit to be inserted between the face piece 5 and the stops, as clearly indicated in Fig. 2. By bending or buckling the visor, it is possible to insert the finger 19 in the notches, or to withdraw the same from the notches, and if the fingers are inserted in the notches, and the visor released, the resiliency of the metal of the strips 16, functions to cause the same to straighten out, to force the fingers 19 into firm engagement with the stops 21, said notches preventing vertical displacements.

Due to the fact that the strips 15 which extend into the wings 18, are of pliant mate rial, it will be understood that the operator may bend the wings inwardly or outwardly to accommodate the forehead, and these wings will then remain in the position to which they have been adjusted, and will prevent any glare or light rays entering the protector from the rear, from damaging the e e-sight of the operator.

The terms and expressions employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described, or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various structural modifications are possible, within the scope of the invention claimed.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a welders shield or the like, a detachable visor comprising an apcrtured body formed of a sheet of fibrous material having its end portions folded over upon the body to provide wings, pliant reinforcing means for the wings, and an attachment member secured to the body and having resilient fingers projecting from said body.

2. In combination with a welders shield or the like, stop members for the shield, and a detachable visor arranged within the shield and provided with resilient fingers engaging said stop members.

3. In combination, a welders shield or the lit: provided on its inner side with notched stop members, an apertured visor detachably arranged within the shield, said visor comprising a sheet of fibrous material having its end portions folded back upon the body portion of the sheet to provide wings which are spaced from the inner surface of the shield, pliant reinforcing members for the wings, secured to the sheet, and fingers secured to FREDERICK M. BOlVERS. 

